Don’t look now front-runners, but here’s 20 teams I would not want to play come sectional time

This post is fun to think about because for once, we aren’t talking about the teams that have proven themselves at the top of the standings but rather those teams lurking in the shadows, waiting to pounce in sectionals.

There are numerous teams out there who have you right where they want you right now, under the radar, waiting for their chance to play against similar competition and enrollments when the time comes. These teams are dangerous. Also, there is a small list of teams making subtle and not so subtle moves before the tournament, who despite their record would scare the heck out of me if I was awaiting my seeding draw next Wednesday.

Here is a look by class:

AA – I don’t know about you, but if I was a Suburban Council team awaiting my seeding draw at the Saratoga Sheraton Hotel next Wednesday, I would not want LaSalle, Bishop Maginn or Niskayuna to come up as my opponent. LaSalle has a determined young sophomore point guard named Ralph Erickson who goes to basket with fearlessness and a shooter in Tyler Reed, who right now is one of those kids playing way above what he physically brings to the table. Erickson and Reed are very tough to defend and the Cadets offer some strong complimentary shooters like Liam Doyle and Jay Norris who are also playing well. Coach Sgambelluri may be a year away, but mark my words this team is getting better and they will not go down easily in the tournament. Across the river sits the Bishop Maginn Griffs. Their team is young and although Matt Pettruccione is a senior, most of his supporting cast return. The team has gained confidence lately and if they can dictate tempo and if Petrruccione can find his rhythm, this team could very easily pull an upset. It will be very interesting to see how they get seeded. Over on the Suburban side, Niskayuna has me thinking they are a team worth worrying about. Sure, they lost to Shaker and Shen who are amongst the top teams in the Suburban but they also beat Mohonasen one day but lose to Guilderland the next. It is very hard to figure this team out. With Kyle Bayly, John-Michael Fragnoli and Peyton Houghtaling there are three kids who can score and in a tournament game, that might be all they need. I am not saying they will upset a Schenectady for example, but I am telling you they are capable.

A – Where do I begin? I guess you could say that 3/4 of the draw will be dangerous. I know that sounds ridiculous, but seriously other than Scotia, Mohonasen, Lansingburgh and Gibbons the rest of the field is a step below but chock-full of potential. As I look at this, I see Ichabod Crane has beaten Cohoes and they always are good in the tournament. I see Burnt Hills has been in every game they have played all year against tough competition and then they themselves were just beaten badly by Averill Park, who also is a Class A opponent and plays some of the toughest defense in the section. Would you want to play either of those teams if you are a Colonial or Foothills team? Everyone in the section has to be scared of Bishop Gibbons. They beat two of the top three teams and the only reason they didn’t beat the other, potentially, is because they didn’t play them. With 16 Class AA games in hand, they will be absolutely battle-tested and certainly unintimidated by anything Class A can throw at them. How about Schalmont? They lost to Mohon by 1, Lansingburgh and Vliet by 2. They beat Cohoes. Their opponent will have work to do to beat them. Then you have the Foothills. Queensbury, Hudson Falls, Glens Falls and South Glens Falls all will be underdogs according to the seeds but I cannot go against those teams and their abilities to knock off someone on a neutral floor. Queensbury has size, Hudson Falls plays physical defense, Glens Falls can shoot with the best of them and South High has one of the best players in the section in Jordan Greene, who if the Dogs ride him in the post-season, could carry them to a few wins to end his high school career. The point is, if you can get out to the Class A tournament, do it, because these games are going to be battles and I think you will see some upsets.

BB – Of course Schenectady Christian and Spa Catholic haters are going to play on the fact that they play in the WAC and use that as motivation when the brackets come out, but I think the two WAC reps could represent well in the tournament. I have not seen Spa Catholic so I cannot comment yet, but Christian has the size, shooting, coaching and system to get back to Glens Falls and their star is only a Junior. Also at the top of the standings will be Cairo-Durham and Catskill from the Patroon who are a contrast in styles. Cairo will hold the score down by physical defense, Catskill will run the score up with high-octane offense and athleticism. Schuylerville is the only other team with a chance at a top seed in the tournament as they still have a chance to win the Wasaren League title. Monday night’s battle with Hoosick Falls will go a long way in determining who that champion will be. They should get a top 4 seed. So, who does that leave as the underdogs? The list is long also. Green Tech, Cohoes, Cobleskill, Johnstown and B-P are my picks. Green Tech is made up of all underclassmen. Although they haven’t been consistent enough to get a home game, unless its a playin, they are very athletic and have been playing almost all upper echelon teams. In the BB, they will settle in and compete and should be capable of an upset depending on the seeding as they already have proven they can run with Catskill. Cohoes is very dangerous and at one point was in the running for the league title in the Colonial’s Liberty Division but now, after falling to Ichabod Crane, look like they will have to win a 4/5 or a 3/6 battle and I absolutely think they can take down one of the Patroon teams in those battles if they shoot the way they are capable of. Cobleskill always gets into these 8/9 contests and often times will make you work for everything you get. They could scare one of the favorites as could Johnstown who always comes out of the Foothills with a poor record, but who then makes people sweat in the tournament. Finally Broadalbin-Perth. What can you say about them? This is the same team that beat Scotia and Schuylerville but lost to Gloversville this week. I know they have the shooters to carry them but they will have to tighten up their defense that is yielding uncharacteristic numbers for a Tucker Giffor-coached team if they want to make another run.

B – Stillwater and Mechanicville are two neighboring towns tucked in along the Hudson River in Eastern Saratoga county. Both towns are blue-collar and the people are very passionate about their teams. In many sports, the two towns compete alongside each other through the youth ranks. Now, these neighbors will both play the role of spoiler in the tournament as Stillwater has been improving game-by-game all season and now, with the win over Greenwich in hand, has the confidence to take down one of the top squads. Brett Smith has emerged as a go-to scorer for Coach Dave Cook and he is getting to the foul line. This team is dangerous and could definitely knockoff one of the leaders. Mechanicville is another one of those teams. They knocked off Fonda who will get on the of the top four seeds and then they have put some fear in many other top teams this year since the arrival of Jordan McBride from Catholic High a month ago. With Hoosick Falls, Watervliet and Chatham as the clear-cut top three, I think any of the other three could find themselves in the mix in this wide open field.

C – Well the Greenwich Witches did themselves in against Stillwater the other night and now most likely will plummet from a potential 2 to a 4 seed behind Lake George, Fort Plain and Argyle and if Waterford wins the CHVL, may even get a 5 seed! That would make them an extremely dangerous team in the tournament because they have the scorers, the savvy guard play and a solid big man inside. I would not consider a 5 seed to be an upset team as much as an 8/9 seed who makes a run and that is why I will spend some time on those guys. First up, Voorheesville. Let me tell you from experience, that the Blackbirds are just salivating at the chance to show their abilities in the C field. They are getting completely and utterly knocked around by A, BB and B talent all season but they are not a bad team. In fact, I have a feeling, they will show that they are a very good team in sectionals when the playing field is level and the circumstances are even. Remember this team is one of the most consistent small-school tournament teams in the past decade and they have the talent to to do it again, if they do not have the pedigree in wins/losses. They will be joined by Schoharie, who can shoot with the best of them, especially TJ Smith who BKW coach Andy Wright, called “Jimmy Chitwood” from Hoosiers fame. The Indians are coached by Shane Barton, who is one of those underrated skippers who in sectionals should be able to throw a pretty strong defensive scheme at you and with some strong shooting, could have his team in position to make some noise. The other one may be Rensselaer, who also play all teams with larger enrollments, but in the tournament may have the spunkyness to upset one of the top squads.

D – This conversation has to begin with Fort Ann in Class D. Fort Ann has shown all year that they are very dangerous and can shoot themselves into a game any night. With Loudonville Christian and Sharon Springs looking like they are destined for 1-2, it will be interesting to see how the committee seeds New Lebanon, Germantown and Fort Ann. I think this is a 5-horse race but of course Heatly has proven that they can beat anyone on any given night and all it takes is a hot streak by Alex Heffern and the Hornets could be in business. The results of the CHVL games this week, will go a long way in determining the seeds and like I said, no one will want to play Fort Ann!

Eric Medved

21 Responses

Thank you for giving Ichabod Crane some respect, even in the losses they’ve had other than to Burgh & Watervliet its been by a basket, could of went either way, I believe they could upset just about any team out there.

I get it that you are presenting which teams are dangerous come sectional time, but as for seedings, shouldn’t a team be seeded by what they have done and acheived on the court. So, how can a team with double digit losses be looked at as a high seed in Class A? Gibbons is a good team I am sure, but they haven’t won many games. They shouldn’t be rewarded for losing to good teams. Burnt Hills shouldn’t be rewarded with a good seed for coming close to winning some games. Teams need to win games to be rewarded with good seeds. I am fine with a team being rewared with a top three seed for winning thier league, because they have accomplished something out of it, but don’t give a higher seed to a team just for playing good teams. This should be a secondary consideration to determine the seeding between two teams with very similar records.

I think that there are going to be very few teams excited about their first round matchup in the AA’s. You could have CBA having to play a pesky Guilderland in a contrast of styles and then Troy/Schenectady/Albany all having to deal with Saratoga/Nisky/Columbia. Troy’s size and athleticism could be too much for ‘Toga, and I’m thinking Columbia could be dangerous, but I don’t like the Albany matchup. If it works out that Schenectady gets Nisky, that’s one I’d keep my eye on. Nisky does have the ability to score, has some size, but their guard play needs to step up for a challenge like this.

As far as the Suburban leaders, Shen might be the only comfortable team with CCHS right now. Bethlehem/Shaker/AA would all have some pesky matchups with Maginn/Amsterdam/La Salle. Potential Shaker-Amsterdam and AA-La Salle would garner my attention. I’d like to pick an upset here, but it looks like Maginn has no road wins all season, Amsterdam has two (vs. AA teams, and a killer remaining schedule), and Academy might be too tough for La Salle. Certainly no gimmees anywhere though.

In response to yeah..I agree with you that teams should not be rewarded for losing to good teams but take Gibbons for example. They may finish 5th or so in the Big 10 and beat Burgh and Mohan on the court. Furthermore they beat Mohan on their homecourt in their own tournment which should account for something. Beating a team head to head should be the most important factor in all the seedings. Truthfully when it comes down to it doesn’t every team just have to win no matter what seed you get…

Then Section 2 should really sit down and re-align the leagues. Most leagues have smaller schools playing better, bigger schools and its not fair to the smaller schools when it comes to seedings. The smaller schools do get penalized by the sectional committee because they usually look at the overall record and not the strength of schedule. Their are ALOT of good teams with not good records because they are playing a much tougher game night in and night out. Let’s break up the leagues and let the same size schools play each other all year.

I think, for the most part, teams are rewarded for what they do on the court. I also think the way the leagues are configured makes the Sectionals that much more interesting in the A’s because you don’t know what to expect for some teams. The leagues can control who competes…the Section has nothing to do with that. I would expect that teams like Scotia and Mohon and ‘Burgh to be rewarded for their records. This is likely why Gibbons won’t be a top 3 seed, but I’ve got to side with Eric that they very well could be the best team and favorite to win (though any of 4-5 teams wouldn’t surprise me). Does that mean they deserve a 1 or 2 seed? No. I also wouldn’t expect Burnt Hills to be rewarded with anything but a lower level seed. They are still dangerous in that spot.

Was just listening to Soundoff with Sinkoff and I don’t think you are evaluating the Suburban South correctly. Right now, Bethlehem and Mohon have three conference losses each. Bethlehem has lost to Columbia (-1 point), Shen (-2 points), and Mohon (-1 point). Mohon has lost to Bethlehem (-1 point), Nisky (-2 points), and Shen (-2 points). If both teams win out, Bethlehem will win the conference outright by one point. If Bethlehem drops a game and Mohon wins out, they would have the same amount of points and a 1-1 H2H record.

Wac Ball Fan…Schoharie won against Sharon Friday night. Actually, let me rephrase that…they DESTROYED Sharon. Sharon is not playing with any heart. They need to step it up big TIME! as i am writing this i was just informed they lost to BKW tonight by 1. This leads me to say…C’MON MAN! Spartans, you need to step it up and play to your guys’ potential!!! Know that it is on you guys as a team to win games! and when you lose, it is all of your faults! The community and school gives you great support…now go and DO WORK!

The Suburban points are only used for Sectional seeding, not determining the champions of each division. In the end, these two teams played the same schedule. The point system, agree with it or not, tries to address North vs. South teams with different schedules. I don’t get it, but it doesn’t affect Divisional Champions.

dougiek,
Please keep the basketball leagues and not go to the way the football games are played. The Suburban Council covers more than the sports program, so I doubt the administrators would want the Council disbanded. In the end, no matter what the seeding, as bballer has said, each team must win all to be the champion.

above post is correct, i dont see how maginn will make noise..they are athletic, but lack knowledge…they got beat by amsterdam..no disrespect to amsterdam, but they have been getting blown out and handled with ease as of late… petruccione should have stayed at ‘toga!! the grass isn’t always greener on the other side! oh..and we should make the privates/catholics play each other and let the publics play each other… a champion from each side play in the title…

WOW!!!! The two previous posts are unfair… You guys have to be bitter ‘Toga fans… Maginn IS a dangerous team with more than just Petruccione..Problem is that he’s not the player people thought he was and its costing the team.. Just hope ‘Toga doesn’t have to play them….. Now that Real Talk for you naysayers…

no worries…TOGA is average at BEST and they will not beat Maginn if they have to play them…I have seen Toga play 4 times this year and they only have won against B Spa who have horrific coaching and 1 league win….they are easy to defend and as good as Mikey McElroy is, he will struggle getting to the hole against the athletic Griffs…IF they have to play them